Gender inequality, specifically boys performing at a lower level than girls, is an issue in our schools because not all students are achieving to their full potential. If boys are performing at a lower level, that will translate into fewer of them going to college, and regardless of whether or not they go to college, being unprepared for the kinds of jobs that are available in the workforce. It is an important issue not only for the economic and personal success of men, but because, according to Ravitch, the job of the public schools is to educate these students as future citizens, raise the intelligence of people and prepare them to lead independent lives. If boys are not engaged in education, if they are dropping out of high school or not continuing their education, the likelihood they are leading independent lives and contributing as citizens is lessened.
Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (F First Edition edition.). New York: Knopf
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE
DiPrete, T. A., & Jennings, J. L. (2012). Social and behavioral skills and the gender gap in early educational achievement. Social Science Research, 41(1), 1–15. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.09.00
Researchers DiPrete and Jennings consider the development of social and behavioral skills throughout elementary school and how that development affects test scores and teacher evaluations at the high school level. They cite previous research giving evidence that teenage girls have better social and behavioral skills than boys and note that this may be an important piece to the gap in academic achievement between them. DiPrete and Jennings use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to assess the role of behavior in producing an achievement gap between boys and girls at the elementary level. They also looked at the claim that gender differences in the evaluation results stem from gender bias in the evaluation process that may be due to girls' better conformity to the role of student. The results of their study showed that social and behavioral skills are important resources for success at the elementary school level, both on testing and on teacher academic evaluations. Girls start school with a lead over boys in those skills and that lead increases through the first six years of school. That academic advantage persists into middle school, high school and college. This gap may be "the single most important factor underlying the significant lead that women have over men in college completion." They compare their findings regarding test scores with a claim that early test scores have a bigger effect on subsequent test scores than social and behavioral skills. While they don't dispute the importance of early test scores, they say that social and behavioral skills are still a big part of the gap in test scores. DiPrete and Jennings then go on to state that teacher academic ratings are even more strongly influenced by students' social and behavioral skills than test scores. They speculate whether that is due to girls' better adjusted to the school environment or whether it is a better fit of their social and behavioral skills into the learning environment. When the link between social and behavioral behaviors was broken down by class, the link was very small; the gender gap was very apparent in both middle class and disadvantaged students. The researchers also noted that because this gap favors women, their increased achievement is resulting in a decrease of the level of gender inequality, but it is important to note that males' achievement is flat, which the authors note is concerning both for national income and the well being of children and young adults. Lastly the authors of this study note that is is important to study the impact of the new educational policy focusing on standardized testing on social and behavioral skills. Supporters of the new policies believe that the skills being taught for testing will also also improve the unmeasured skills, such as social and behavioral skills. DiPrete and Jennings feel that the evidence in their study shows that their needs to be more research into how schools are improving non test score outcomes.
Social and behavioral skills. That is another, more professional way, to discuss the way elementary students act in class, how well they follow rules and directions and how they get along with their classmates and teachers. This research confirms what anyone who has spent time in a classroom, or with boys, knows. As a general rule,they have a harder time conforming to what is expected of them in school, regardless of socioeconomic status. But as all students grow and mature, the boy-girl gap in those skills doesn't close. My reaction to this is not one of surprise. It would be unusual to find anyone who doesn't agree with the idea that girls mature faster than boys. However, I was intrigued by the notion that the gap widens in the first six years of school and that it never gets smaller. I also thought it made sense that teachers' academic evaluations were influenced by these social and behavioral skills, though I hesitate to say that it was something done consciously by the teachers. And I do agree that another thing to be considered, and should be considered, is whether or not that difference is simply because girls' social and behavioral skills are better than boys' or if those better skills truly help them perform that much better. Lastly, the authors make an incredibly important point at the end of their study regarding the current education policy stressing standardized testing and how that focus is affecting social and behavioral skills. They note that supporters of testing believe it will help improve unmeasured skills, though the results of their study conclude that more research should be done regarding outcomes that are not measured on standardized tests. That is a very important point to consider. Social and behavioral skills are one more area that could very well be suffering from the new policies and the importance being placed on test results.
Gregory Linton discusses the gender gap in higher education, which he considers a troubling trend that is not getting enough attention in the media or within higher education. He states that in 2009, 237,000 more women than men received bachelor's degrees and 2.9 million more women attended a post-secondary, degree conferring institution. While men significantly outnumbered women in college for over 300 years, the gap closed throughout the 60s and 70s. In 1979 women achieved majority status in higher education and the gap has been widening since then. Between 2003 and 2010, 57% or more of students in colleges were women. Among graduate students that percent rose to over 58.8%, compared to 41.2% of men. Since 1975, the numbers of both men and women in college have increased, men from 5.3 to 7.8 million, women from 4.4 to 10.2 million. Linton then goes on to cite "Projections of Education Statistics to 2021", which projects the enrollment of men in post-secondary degree institutions to increase 10% while women's enrollment will increase 18%. Not only are more women attending college, but more are obtaining degrees. In 2010 among 25-34 year olds, 27% of men had earned a bachelor's degree, compared with 35% of women. The prediction in "Projections of Education Statistics to 2021" is for men to increase 19% while women will increase 23%. Linton concludes by stating that while this is wonderful for women it is troubling for men. In a August 2012 study by the National Center for Educational Statistics, young adults with bachelor's degrees earn more than 50% more than those with only a high school diploma and that in 2010 5% of those young adults with bachelor's degrees or higher were unemployed, while 12% of those with a high school diploma were unemployed. He states that young men with less education, lower income or no employment tend to be more involved in crime and drug use. Additionally this trend hurts the economy because there are shortages of qualified workers in fields such as science and engineering, to which more men are drawn and because women tend to leave the work force at higher rates than men.
Linton's statistics show that the gender gap that begins in elementary school according to the above research study does continue through higher education. It is a positive thing to see that women are increasingly going to college and earning degrees. While it has troubled me that the gap between women and men going to college and earning degrees continues to grow, this article left one big question unanswered. According to "Projections of Education Statistics to 2021", projected enrollments of both men and women are expected to increase, although at a higher rate for women. The gender gap with therefore continue to increase. The unanswered statistic is what percentage of men that graduate from high school are pursuing a higher education. While comparisons to women are important, I also believe it is important to be able to compare that to men as their own category. After that, the next step is to compare what percentage of women graduating from high school go on to further education. This article also lost a little credibility for me at the end with Linton's claims regarding less education and lower income leading to crime and drugs,as well as his assertion that more men in higher education would help fill jobs in the science and engineering fields and that women leaving the work force at higher rates. He offers no evidence to support those claims. My first thought was that women may be leaving the work force to raise their families and will return. Additionally what proof is he offering that if more men went to college there would be more workers in the science and math fields? While Linton laid out solid evidence to prove the gender gap in higher education, he loses credibility when he claims why this is so important without citing additional evidence to support his claims.
Brian Fisher recounts an interview between Sarah Sparks and Thomas Mortensen that she reported on her Education Week blog regarding his latest study, " Economic Change Effects on Men and Implications for the Education of Boys". He retells highlights of the interview, along with his own opinions. He states that although the idea of men falling behind women is not a new topic, very few people seem to be overly concerned or doing anything to change the situation. Among the highlights he recounts are the following: 72.8% of children lived with a father in 2010 compared with 88.8% in 1960. Also in 2010, 62.8% of boys graduating from high school enrolled in college. While this is up 7.6% from 1970, it is less than the 74% of girls who enrolled, up 25% since 1970. In the 6-14 year old age range, boys are more than 2 times more likely to have a developmental disability and three times more likely to be diagnosed with mental retardation than girls. He writes that Mortensen analysis includes two observations. First, for the last 25 years, the country has focused on girls and their educational and economic achivement. During that time, little has been considered regarding boys' development. Fisher concludes that it is because there was an assumption that boys would continue to do fine. Second, traditionally male dominated professions have been opening to women, and women have been encouraged to grow into them. However, that has not happened in the other direction. Traditionally female fields have not become more culturally open to men. Fields asserts that it is time to consider removing stereotypes of particular professions and to begin to break down "inherent gender disposition toward particular professions". Doing so would make us healthier both culturally and economically.
While the statistics that Fisher relays have been stated frequently throughout various articles, Mortensen's two analyses of what is behind those statistics and how to help solve the problem are thought provoking. The idea that the focus of the past 25 years on girls' educational achievement has taken away from boys and their education is a theory that is often considered, along with the idea that girls' success has come at the expense of boys. It's an idea that's interesting to consider, but without hard statistics it's not a bandwagon I would jump on. Personally I believe there are many intertwined reasons for this gap in achievement and I believe both boys and girls can be successful academically; one gender does not have to suffer for the other to succeed. The second, more of a suggestion is, I believe, a brilliant suggestion regarding one way to help close the gap. He asserts that it is much easier for women to enter male dominated fields of employment rather than for men to enter traditionally female dominated fields. I agree that the time has come to break down those barriers and remove any stigma, real or perceived, for men to enter those fields. As employment opportunities for women expand, so too should those for men. While I wouldn't state that it is easy for any gender to cross over into an employment field that is traditionally filled with those of the opposite gender, I think there is more of an ease for women to enter traditionally male fields than men to enter traditionally female fields. Women who do so are pioneers, achievers, and successful. Male nurses or executive assistant are rarely considered those things. I think it is time to change that. I included this blog, despite the fact that admissionsquest.com may not be considered a well-known news source, because I felt that Education Week was a reputable name in education and Thomas Mortensen had important contributions to the discussion of the gender gap in education. I was unable to find the original interview on Sarah Sparks's blog.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Gurian, M., & Stevens, Kathy. (2004). With Boys and Girls in Mind. Asdc, 62(3), 21–26.
In this article, published at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development website, Gurian and Stevens explain the differences in male and female brains, what those differences mean for their learning and offer suggestions regarding how to best engage them in classrooms. PET scans and MRIs give concrete evidence of the difference between male and female brains; schools are unintentionally failing to see the different gender specific needs and not adjusting to what students of both genders should receive to help them learn best. A girl's brain has a larger corpus callosum than a boy, which allows for more communication between brain hemispheres. Girls are better at multitasking and transitioning between subjects. Stronger neural connectors in the temporal lobe lead to better listening skills, better ability to discriminate tone of voice and more detailed memory storage, which lead to more detailed writing. A larger hippocampus in girls gives better memory storage. Because girls' prefrontal cortex develops earlier than boys' and is more active, girls tend to make fewer impulsive decisions, which is helped even more by increased serotonin in the blood and brain. Boys' brains not only have less serotonin but also less oxytocin; this means they are more likely to be impulsive, as well as less likely to self regulate that impulsivity. Comparing the cortical area of the brain, girls use it for more verbal-emotive functioning while boys use that area for spatial-mechanical functioning. Boys use about half of what girls do for social-emotive functioning, which means they experience words and feelings differently from girls. Additionally, girls get about 15% more blood flow to the brain than boys. That decreased blood flow in boys makes their brains more compartmentalized and have less lateralized brain activity. Lastly, a male brain enters a rest state to recharge and reset, which girls do not need. The more words a teacher uses, the more likely a boy is to zone out. The male brain is better suited to symbols, pictures, diagrams, etc., which is why boys may be able to learn physics and higher level math more easily. Girls brains tend to be drawn to things that have complex texture, tone and mental activity since they tend to have such strong verbal-emotive functions. The authors then go on to state that advocacy for girls has helped close the gender gap in math and science by teaching those subjects more verbally. They suggest that a similar shift needs to happen in reading and writing to help close the boys' gap in a way that does not harm girls. According to the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress, while boys lag 1-1 1/2 years behind girls in reading and writing, girls are very close behind boys in math and science. Statistics confirm that boys need help. Boys earn 70% of Ds and Fs but less than half of As, 2/3 of learning disability diagnoses are boys, 90% of discipline referrals and 80% of high school dropouts are boys, and less than 40% of college students are male. These statistics hold internationally. The Gurian Institute (the authors) stress the importance of basing education strategies on the way the human brain works (the Nature Based Approach) and they train teachers in how boys and girls tend to learn differently and how to teach accordingly. They believe in the importance of better understanding gender based brains and using practical approaches to helping those brains learn. The article concludes with concrete ways to enhance learning for boys and girls. Some suggestions include keeping instructions to under one minute, placing books all around the room and making learning kinesthetic and experiential for boys. For girls use puzzles for perceptual learning, take pictures of girls succeeding at task to be able to show them and use manipulatives to teach math.
This article was important for many reasons. The authors give the scientific explanations as to how the male and female brains are different and what those differences mean for learning; they do not claim one as better than the other. Although they state that there was a concerted effort to help girls better succeed in math and science, they do not blame that push for boys lack of achievement. Gurian and Stevens do not feel that it is time to turn attention from girls and toward boys; there is no finger pointing which gives their arguments increased credibility. They are simply, yet importantly, offering evidence that boys and girls learn differently and statistics to show that boys are not succeeding in school. They can learn together using various strategies to help each learn to their full potentials. And most importantly, they offer concrete suggestions to help each gender better learn. I appreciate this article the most because it explains how the genders learn differently. I found it to be unbiased which changed my perspective a little. Although I do feel boys and girls can be successful learners without one gender having to be held back, that is not always the way an educational gender gap discussion is framed. That's the way this is framed, though, and it gives valuable information for anyone concerned about the gap.
Christina Hoff Sommers begins this article by claiming that boys are resented for being an obstacle to girls' achievement,and are considered privileged. There is a feeling that girls are treated as second class citizens and are suffering academically for these reasons. She then goes on to say that this is wrong. Statistics show that boys are on the weak side of the gender gap. In addition to the fact that in 1997 college enrollment was 55% female and 45%, with the gap still growing, Sommers states that while girls attempt suicide more than boys, it it the boys who are more likely to succeed; of the 4,483 5-24 year olds who commited suicide, 701 were females and 3,782 were males. Without giving statistics she notes that girls tend to read more, get better grades, have higher academic goals and are more involved in extracurricular activities, among other things. The only area where boys outperform boys is in athletics. Girls are also more engaged in school than boys;by 12th grade boys are four times more likely than girls to not do their homework. Sommers states that feminists claim that boys are still outperforming girls in standardized tests as proof that boys are not in trouble, but she goes on to refute that claim. She states that a reason why boys do better on SATs is because more at-risk girls than boys take them and their scores tend to be lower. She wonders why the at risk boys aren't showing up at all.The NAEP is given as a standardized test that shows the gap. According to 1996 results comparing 17 year old boys and girls, girls lagged behind boys by 5 point in math and 8 points in science. In reading boys lagged behind by 14 points and in writing by 17. She tells the story of a student in Scarsdale NY who spoke to teachers about the achievement gap. The teachers did not believe him until one looked at grading patterns in the Social Studies department and saw that while it was not true in advanced class, it was true in standard class. This teacher also learned that no one was interested in hearing his findings, which Sommers cites as proof that teachers do not believe that boys are at the weaker end of the achievement gap.
Looking at where this trend began, it started in 1982 with Carol Gilligan's In A Different Voice, which claimed adolescent girls were in crisis. A movement grew from there and while the portrait the was painted of girls was troubling, Sommers states there was no evidence given to support that picture and critiques that publication, its assertions and the methods Gilligan uses. The concept of demoralized girls hit a nerve and the American Association of University women wanted to know more. They did more research and the movement toward helping girls grew finally culminating with the Gender Equity in Education Act, which was passed by Congress in 1994. By the late 1990s concern was growing regarding boys achievement, with studies being conducted and showing boys to be in trouble. A survey conducted in 1998 by the Horatio Alger Association categorized the results into Highly Successful Students and Disillusioned Students. Of the students in the first Highly Successful category 63% were female and 37% were male. The author concludes that the awareness is growing regarding the inequality toward boys in education, and that Gilligan also sees that boys are now in trouble just like girls. Sommers then criticizes the ways in which Gilligan suggests boys should be helped and the reasons she gives for their troubles, including being forced to separate from their mothers at too early an age. She states that if there is a problem with parents, it is a lack of fathers in homes. In 1960 children living in a home with their mother but no father was 5.1 million; in 1996 it was over 16 million. Sommers ends by saying that the gender gap is real and threatens the future of millions of boys. This must change and it must be a priority.
This article started with good information and anecdotes, but ended up being incredibly frustrating. Sommers made no attempt to hide her bias on the issue or her disdain toward Carol Gilligan and groups who were focused on improving girls' achievement in math and science. I chose it because it was written at a time when I felt awareness for boys' underachievement in school was growing and felt it could give me some good perspective on how this issue began. Sommers frustration with the pervading attitude of the time of poor deprived girls overwhelmed her and her writing. This seemed to be a knee jerk response to the girls' movement that was gaining momentum, which explains some of the bias. However, trying to make her point that boys need help by bashing girls and the people and groups who are advocating for them simply weakens her argument. As I have written in response to other articles, I don't believe that one gender needs to fail for the other to succeed. This author doesn't appear to feel the same. It would be interesting to read more current works by her to see if her tone has softened at all.
CONCLUSION:
That there is a gender gap in education is indisputable. All five of these articles give ample statistics and evidence to support that claim. From lower grades to fewer men in higher education, boys and men are not performing at the same level as girls and women. Followed through to adulthood, less educated men will earn less and be more likely to be unemployed. That is why it is important to work to help boys be more successful in school, which would close the gap. Boys start school with a disadvantage, lower social and behavioral skills. That gap continues to grow until boys start giving up on school. Pointing fingers or blaming particular groups or individuals doesn't help. These articles have some concrete ways to help boys to achieve more success in school, including different ways to teach to the different brains of boys and girls and making more careers more acceptable for boys to pursue.
REACTION:
While reading these articles confirmed that boys are lagging behind in education, they also gave me a better understanding of why. The reality is that boys and girls are different, just as there are differences in cultures. No gender or culture is better than any other; they're simply different. As teachers we are taught to be sensitive to cultural differences, use a multicultural curriculum, and learn about the various cultures represented in our classrooms to best help our students learn. That is something that should be done for the different genders as well. A classroom and a teaching style would not need to change drastically to help both boys and girls learn better. As I said in some of the individual reactions, girls don't need to lose the ground that they have gained in past years, or even stay flat for boys to make better progress. The time has come, though, to pay attention to these gaps and try to close them.
Gender inequality, specifically boys performing at a lower level than girls, is an issue in our schools because not all students are achieving to their full potential. If boys are performing at a lower level, that will translate into fewer of them going to college, and regardless of whether or not they go to college, being unprepared for the kinds of jobs that are available in the workforce. It is an important issue not only for the economic and personal success of men, but because, according to Ravitch, the job of the public schools is to educate these students as future citizens, raise the intelligence of people and prepare them to lead independent lives. If boys are not engaged in education, if they are dropping out of high school or not continuing their education, the likelihood they are leading independent lives and contributing as citizens is lessened.
Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (F First Edition edition.). New York: Knopf
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE
DiPrete, T. A., & Jennings, J. L. (2012). Social and behavioral skills and the gender gap in early educational achievement. Social Science Research, 41(1), 1–15. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.09.00
Researchers DiPrete and Jennings consider the development of social and behavioral skills throughout elementary school and how that development affects test scores and teacher evaluations at the high school level. They cite previous research giving evidence that teenage girls have better social and behavioral skills than boys and note that this may be an important piece to the gap in academic achievement between them. DiPrete and Jennings use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to assess the role of behavior in producing an achievement gap between boys and girls at the elementary level. They also looked at the claim that gender differences in the evaluation results stem from gender bias in the evaluation process that may be due to girls' better conformity to the role of student. The results of their study showed that social and behavioral skills are important resources for success at the elementary school level, both on testing and on teacher academic evaluations. Girls start school with a lead over boys in those skills and that lead increases through the first six years of school. That academic advantage persists into middle school, high school and college. This gap may be "the single most important factor underlying the significant lead that women have over men in college completion." They compare their findings regarding test scores with a claim that early test scores have a bigger effect on subsequent test scores than social and behavioral skills. While they don't dispute the importance of early test scores, they say that social and behavioral skills are still a big part of the gap in test scores. DiPrete and Jennings then go on to state that teacher academic ratings are even more strongly influenced by students' social and behavioral skills than test scores. They speculate whether that is due to girls' better adjusted to the school environment or whether it is a better fit of their social and behavioral skills into the learning environment. When the link between social and behavioral behaviors was broken down by class, the link was very small; the gender gap was very apparent in both middle class and disadvantaged students. The researchers also noted that because this gap favors women, their increased achievement is resulting in a decrease of the level of gender inequality, but it is important to note that males' achievement is flat, which the authors note is concerning both for national income and the well being of children and young adults. Lastly the authors of this study note that is is important to study the impact of the new educational policy focusing on standardized testing on social and behavioral skills. Supporters of the new policies believe that the skills being taught for testing will also also improve the unmeasured skills, such as social and behavioral skills. DiPrete and Jennings feel that the evidence in their study shows that their needs to be more research into how schools are improving non test score outcomes.
Social and behavioral skills. That is another, more professional way, to discuss the way elementary students act in class, how well they follow rules and directions and how they get along with their classmates and teachers. This research confirms what anyone who has spent time in a classroom, or with boys, knows. As a general rule,they have a harder time conforming to what is expected of them in school, regardless of socioeconomic status. But as all students grow and mature, the boy-girl gap in those skills doesn't close. My reaction to this is not one of surprise. It would be unusual to find anyone who doesn't agree with the idea that girls mature faster than boys. However, I was intrigued by the notion that the gap widens in the first six years of school and that it never gets smaller. I also thought it made sense that teachers' academic evaluations were influenced by these social and behavioral skills, though I hesitate to say that it was something done consciously by the teachers. And I do agree that another thing to be considered, and should be considered, is whether or not that difference is simply because girls' social and behavioral skills are better than boys' or if those better skills truly help them perform that much better. Lastly, the authors make an incredibly important point at the end of their study regarding the current education policy stressing standardized testing and how that focus is affecting social and behavioral skills. They note that supporters of testing believe it will help improve unmeasured skills, though the results of their study conclude that more research should be done regarding outcomes that are not measured on standardized tests. That is a very important point to consider. Social and behavioral skills are one more area that could very well be suffering from the new policies and the importance being placed on test results.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE--KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL
Gregory Linton: Higher education gender gap deserves attention. (n.d.). Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved July 18, 2014, from http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/23/gregory-linton-higher-education-gender-gap/
Gregory Linton discusses the gender gap in higher education, which he considers a troubling trend that is not getting enough attention in the media or within higher education. He states that in 2009, 237,000 more women than men received bachelor's degrees and 2.9 million more women attended a post-secondary, degree conferring institution. While men significantly outnumbered women in college for over 300 years, the gap closed throughout the 60s and 70s. In 1979 women achieved majority status in higher education and the gap has been widening since then. Between 2003 and 2010, 57% or more of students in colleges were women. Among graduate students that percent rose to over 58.8%, compared to 41.2% of men. Since 1975, the numbers of both men and women in college have increased, men from 5.3 to 7.8 million, women from 4.4 to 10.2 million. Linton then goes on to cite "Projections of Education Statistics to 2021", which projects the enrollment of men in post-secondary degree institutions to increase 10% while women's enrollment will increase 18%. Not only are more women attending college, but more are obtaining degrees. In 2010 among 25-34 year olds, 27% of men had earned a bachelor's degree, compared with 35% of women. The prediction in "Projections of Education Statistics to 2021" is for men to increase 19% while women will increase 23%. Linton concludes by stating that while this is wonderful for women it is troubling for men. In a August 2012 study by the National Center for Educational Statistics, young adults with bachelor's degrees earn more than 50% more than those with only a high school diploma and that in 2010 5% of those young adults with bachelor's degrees or higher were unemployed, while 12% of those with a high school diploma were unemployed. He states that young men with less education, lower income or no employment tend to be more involved in crime and drug use. Additionally this trend hurts the economy because there are shortages of qualified workers in fields such as science and engineering, to which more men are drawn and because women tend to leave the work force at higher rates than men.
Linton's statistics show that the gender gap that begins in elementary school according to the above research study does continue through higher education. It is a positive thing to see that women are increasingly going to college and earning degrees. While it has troubled me that the gap between women and men going to college and earning degrees continues to grow, this article left one big question unanswered. According to "Projections of Education Statistics to 2021", projected enrollments of both men and women are expected to increase, although at a higher rate for women. The gender gap with therefore continue to increase. The unanswered statistic is what percentage of men that graduate from high school are pursuing a higher education. While comparisons to women are important, I also believe it is important to be able to compare that to men as their own category. After that, the next step is to compare what percentage of women graduating from high school go on to further education. This article also lost a little credibility for me at the end with Linton's claims regarding less education and lower income leading to crime and drugs,as well as his assertion that more men in higher education would help fill jobs in the science and engineering fields and that women leaving the work force at higher rates. He offers no evidence to support those claims. My first thought was that women may be leaving the work force to raise their families and will return. Additionally what proof is he offering that if more men went to college there would be more workers in the science and math fields? While Linton laid out solid evidence to prove the gender gap in higher education, he loses credibility when he claims why this is so important without citing additional evidence to support his claims.
EDITORIAL (from Boarding School Blog)
Fisher, B. (n.d.). Reality Coming Into Relief: Boys Education Needs Attention. Boarding School Blog. Retrieved from http://www.admissionsquest.com/onboardingschools/2011/05/reality-coming-into-relief-boys-education-needs-attention.html
Brian Fisher recounts an interview between Sarah Sparks and Thomas Mortensen that she reported on her Education Week blog regarding his latest study, " Economic Change Effects on Men and Implications for the Education of Boys". He retells highlights of the interview, along with his own opinions. He states that although the idea of men falling behind women is not a new topic, very few people seem to be overly concerned or doing anything to change the situation. Among the highlights he recounts are the following: 72.8% of children lived with a father in 2010 compared with 88.8% in 1960. Also in 2010, 62.8% of boys graduating from high school enrolled in college. While this is up 7.6% from 1970, it is less than the 74% of girls who enrolled, up 25% since 1970. In the 6-14 year old age range, boys are more than 2 times more likely to have a developmental disability and three times more likely to be diagnosed with mental retardation than girls. He writes that Mortensen analysis includes two observations. First, for the last 25 years, the country has focused on girls and their educational and economic achivement. During that time, little has been considered regarding boys' development. Fisher concludes that it is because there was an assumption that boys would continue to do fine. Second, traditionally male dominated professions have been opening to women, and women have been encouraged to grow into them. However, that has not happened in the other direction. Traditionally female fields have not become more culturally open to men. Fields asserts that it is time to consider removing stereotypes of particular professions and to begin to break down "inherent gender disposition toward particular professions". Doing so would make us healthier both culturally and economically.
While the statistics that Fisher relays have been stated frequently throughout various articles, Mortensen's two analyses of what is behind those statistics and how to help solve the problem are thought provoking. The idea that the focus of the past 25 years on girls' educational achievement has taken away from boys and their education is a theory that is often considered, along with the idea that girls' success has come at the expense of boys. It's an idea that's interesting to consider, but without hard statistics it's not a bandwagon I would jump on. Personally I believe there are many intertwined reasons for this gap in achievement and I believe both boys and girls can be successful academically; one gender does not have to suffer for the other to succeed. The second, more of a suggestion is, I believe, a brilliant suggestion regarding one way to help close the gap. He asserts that it is much easier for women to enter male dominated fields of employment rather than for men to enter traditionally female dominated fields. I agree that the time has come to break down those barriers and remove any stigma, real or perceived, for men to enter those fields. As employment opportunities for women expand, so too should those for men. While I wouldn't state that it is easy for any gender to cross over into an employment field that is traditionally filled with those of the opposite gender, I think there is more of an ease for women to enter traditionally male fields than men to enter traditionally female fields. Women who do so are pioneers, achievers, and successful. Male nurses or executive assistant are rarely considered those things. I think it is time to change that. I included this blog, despite the fact that admissionsquest.com may not be considered a well-known news source, because I felt that Education Week was a reputable name in education and Thomas Mortensen had important contributions to the discussion of the gender gap in education. I was unable to find the original interview on Sarah Sparks's blog.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Gurian, M., & Stevens, Kathy. (2004). With Boys and Girls in Mind. Asdc, 62(3), 21–26.
In this article, published at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development website, Gurian and Stevens explain the differences in male and female brains, what those differences mean for their learning and offer suggestions regarding how to best engage them in classrooms. PET scans and MRIs give concrete evidence of the difference between male and female brains; schools are unintentionally failing to see the different gender specific needs and not adjusting to what students of both genders should receive to help them learn best. A girl's brain has a larger corpus callosum than a boy, which allows for more communication between brain hemispheres. Girls are better at multitasking and transitioning between subjects. Stronger neural connectors in the temporal lobe lead to better listening skills, better ability to discriminate tone of voice and more detailed memory storage, which lead to more detailed writing. A larger hippocampus in girls gives better memory storage. Because girls' prefrontal cortex develops earlier than boys' and is more active, girls tend to make fewer impulsive decisions, which is helped even more by increased serotonin in the blood and brain. Boys' brains not only have less serotonin but also less oxytocin; this means they are more likely to be impulsive, as well as less likely to self regulate that impulsivity. Comparing the cortical area of the brain, girls use it for more verbal-emotive functioning while boys use that area for spatial-mechanical functioning. Boys use about half of what girls do for social-emotive functioning, which means they experience words and feelings differently from girls. Additionally, girls get about 15% more blood flow to the brain than boys. That decreased blood flow in boys makes their brains more compartmentalized and have less lateralized brain activity. Lastly, a male brain enters a rest state to recharge and reset, which girls do not need. The more words a teacher uses, the more likely a boy is to zone out. The male brain is better suited to symbols, pictures, diagrams, etc., which is why boys may be able to learn physics and higher level math more easily. Girls brains tend to be drawn to things that have complex texture, tone and mental activity since they tend to have such strong verbal-emotive functions. The authors then go on to state that advocacy for girls has helped close the gender gap in math and science by teaching those subjects more verbally. They suggest that a similar shift needs to happen in reading and writing to help close the boys' gap in a way that does not harm girls. According to the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress, while boys lag 1-1 1/2 years behind girls in reading and writing, girls are very close behind boys in math and science. Statistics confirm that boys need help. Boys earn 70% of Ds and Fs but less than half of As, 2/3 of learning disability diagnoses are boys, 90% of discipline referrals and 80% of high school dropouts are boys, and less than 40% of college students are male. These statistics hold internationally. The Gurian Institute (the authors) stress the importance of basing education strategies on the way the human brain works (the Nature Based Approach) and they train teachers in how boys and girls tend to learn differently and how to teach accordingly. They believe in the importance of better understanding gender based brains and using practical approaches to helping those brains learn. The article concludes with concrete ways to enhance learning for boys and girls. Some suggestions include keeping instructions to under one minute, placing books all around the room and making learning kinesthetic and experiential for boys. For girls use puzzles for perceptual learning, take pictures of girls succeeding at task to be able to show them and use manipulatives to teach math.
This article was important for many reasons. The authors give the scientific explanations as to how the male and female brains are different and what those differences mean for learning; they do not claim one as better than the other. Although they state that there was a concerted effort to help girls better succeed in math and science, they do not blame that push for boys lack of achievement. Gurian and Stevens do not feel that it is time to turn attention from girls and toward boys; there is no finger pointing which gives their arguments increased credibility. They are simply, yet importantly, offering evidence that boys and girls learn differently and statistics to show that boys are not succeeding in school. They can learn together using various strategies to help each learn to their full potentials. And most importantly, they offer concrete suggestions to help each gender better learn. I appreciate this article the most because it explains how the genders learn differently. I found it to be unbiased which changed my perspective a little. Although I do feel boys and girls can be successful learners without one gender having to be held back, that is not always the way an educational gender gap discussion is framed. That's the way this is framed, though, and it gives valuable information for anyone concerned about the gap.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE--THE ATLANTIC
Sommers, C. H. (2000, May). The War Against Boys. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/the-war-against-boys/304659/
Christina Hoff Sommers begins this article by claiming that boys are resented for being an obstacle to girls' achievement,and are considered privileged. There is a feeling that girls are treated as second class citizens and are suffering academically for these reasons. She then goes on to say that this is wrong. Statistics show that boys are on the weak side of the gender gap. In addition to the fact that in 1997 college enrollment was 55% female and 45%, with the gap still growing, Sommers states that while girls attempt suicide more than boys, it it the boys who are more likely to succeed; of the 4,483 5-24 year olds who commited suicide, 701 were females and 3,782 were males. Without giving statistics she notes that girls tend to read more, get better grades, have higher academic goals and are more involved in extracurricular activities, among other things. The only area where boys outperform boys is in athletics. Girls are also more engaged in school than boys;by 12th grade boys are four times more likely than girls to not do their homework. Sommers states that feminists claim that boys are still outperforming girls in standardized tests as proof that boys are not in trouble, but she goes on to refute that claim. She states that a reason why boys do better on SATs is because more at-risk girls than boys take them and their scores tend to be lower. She wonders why the at risk boys aren't showing up at all.The NAEP is given as a standardized test that shows the gap. According to 1996 results comparing 17 year old boys and girls, girls lagged behind boys by 5 point in math and 8 points in science. In reading boys lagged behind by 14 points and in writing by 17. She tells the story of a student in Scarsdale NY who spoke to teachers about the achievement gap. The teachers did not believe him until one looked at grading patterns in the Social Studies department and saw that while it was not true in advanced class, it was true in standard class. This teacher also learned that no one was interested in hearing his findings, which Sommers cites as proof that teachers do not believe that boys are at the weaker end of the achievement gap.
Looking at where this trend began, it started in 1982 with Carol Gilligan's In A Different Voice, which claimed adolescent girls were in crisis. A movement grew from there and while the portrait the was painted of girls was troubling, Sommers states there was no evidence given to support that picture and critiques that publication, its assertions and the methods Gilligan uses. The concept of demoralized girls hit a nerve and the American Association of University women wanted to know more. They did more research and the movement toward helping girls grew finally culminating with the Gender Equity in Education Act, which was passed by Congress in 1994. By the late 1990s concern was growing regarding boys achievement, with studies being conducted and showing boys to be in trouble. A survey conducted in 1998 by the Horatio Alger Association categorized the results into Highly Successful Students and Disillusioned Students. Of the students in the first Highly Successful category 63% were female and 37% were male. The author concludes that the awareness is growing regarding the inequality toward boys in education, and that Gilligan also sees that boys are now in trouble just like girls. Sommers then criticizes the ways in which Gilligan suggests boys should be helped and the reasons she gives for their troubles, including being forced to separate from their mothers at too early an age. She states that if there is a problem with parents, it is a lack of fathers in homes. In 1960 children living in a home with their mother but no father was 5.1 million; in 1996 it was over 16 million. Sommers ends by saying that the gender gap is real and threatens the future of millions of boys. This must change and it must be a priority.
This article started with good information and anecdotes, but ended up being incredibly frustrating. Sommers made no attempt to hide her bias on the issue or her disdain toward Carol Gilligan and groups who were focused on improving girls' achievement in math and science. I chose it because it was written at a time when I felt awareness for boys' underachievement in school was growing and felt it could give me some good perspective on how this issue began. Sommers frustration with the pervading attitude of the time of poor deprived girls overwhelmed her and her writing. This seemed to be a knee jerk response to the girls' movement that was gaining momentum, which explains some of the bias. However, trying to make her point that boys need help by bashing girls and the people and groups who are advocating for them simply weakens her argument. As I have written in response to other articles, I don't believe that one gender needs to fail for the other to succeed. This author doesn't appear to feel the same. It would be interesting to read more current works by her to see if her tone has softened at all.
CONCLUSION:
That there is a gender gap in education is indisputable. All five of these articles give ample statistics and evidence to support that claim. From lower grades to fewer men in higher education, boys and men are not performing at the same level as girls and women. Followed through to adulthood, less educated men will earn less and be more likely to be unemployed. That is why it is important to work to help boys be more successful in school, which would close the gap. Boys start school with a disadvantage, lower social and behavioral skills. That gap continues to grow until boys start giving up on school. Pointing fingers or blaming particular groups or individuals doesn't help. These articles have some concrete ways to help boys to achieve more success in school, including different ways to teach to the different brains of boys and girls and making more careers more acceptable for boys to pursue.
REACTION:
While reading these articles confirmed that boys are lagging behind in education, they also gave me a better understanding of why. The reality is that boys and girls are different, just as there are differences in cultures. No gender or culture is better than any other; they're simply different. As teachers we are taught to be sensitive to cultural differences, use a multicultural curriculum, and learn about the various cultures represented in our classrooms to best help our students learn. That is something that should be done for the different genders as well. A classroom and a teaching style would not need to change drastically to help both boys and girls learn better. As I said in some of the individual reactions, girls don't need to lose the ground that they have gained in past years, or even stay flat for boys to make better progress. The time has come, though, to pay attention to these gaps and try to close them.